Sherlock Holmes

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of the world famous detective, Sherlock
Holmes, was not above telling tales about himself in which he was the
laughing stock. Here is one of those stories.

As he tells it, he was waiting at a taxi stand outside the railway station
in Paris.

When a taxi pulled up,he put his suitcase in it and got in himself.
As he was about to tell the taxi driver where he wanted to go, the driver
asked him:

"Where can I take you, Mr. Doyle?" Doyle was flabbergasted.
He asked the driver whether he knew him by sight.

The driver said: "No Sir, I have never seen you before." The puzzled
Doyle asked him what made him think that he was Conan Doyle.

The driver replied: "This morning's paper had a story about you being on
vacation in Marseilles. This is the taxi stand where people who return
from Marseilles always come to. Your skin colour tells me you have been
on vacation. The ink spot on your right index finger suggests to me
that you are a writer. Your clothing is very English, and not French.
Adding up all those pieces of information, I deduce that you are Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle." Doyle said:

"This is truly amazing. You are a real life counter part to my fictional
creation, Sherlock Holmes."